Love Lifts No. 18 MBB Over UCF, 77-69

Wednesday, January 31

Orlando, Fla.

6 pm

Baylor

15-5,4-3Big 12

UCF

12-8,3-5Big 12

Baylor

UCF

Love Lifts No. 18 MBB Over UCF, 77-69

1/31/2024 8:25:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score Box Score (PDF)

Love provides career-high 24, Bridges eclipses 1,000 career points in win

By Jerry Hill
Baylor Bear Insider

ORLANDO, Fla. – After dropping three-straight nail-biting, down-to-the-wire games, including two in overtime, the 18^th-ranked Baylor men never let UCF get within one possession in the last five minutes Wednesday night at Addition Financial Arena.

Answering a huge night by UCF's Darius Johnson, Baylor sophomore guard Langston Love hit five 3-pointers and poured in a career-high 24 points to help the Bears (15-5, 4-3) rally from a 10-point first-half deficit and pull off a 77-69 win over the Knights (12-8, 3-5).

"If it weren't for three possessions, we could be ranked first, second or third in the nation right now," said Baylor coach Scott Drew, whose team avoided its first four-game losing skid in five years.

"That's the parity in this league, that's the parity in college basketball. Three possessions from being a top-3 team. We just had to keep getting better. Tonight, I think we showed some improvement in some areas."

For one thing, the Bears certainly finished better.

The Knights used the hot hand of Johnson to take an early 10-point lead and were up by six at the break, 38-32. Matching his career-high with four 3-pointers in the first half alone, Johnson was 6-of-7 from the floor and scored 16 of his 23 points in the first 20 minutes.

"Man, we knew he was good," Drew said of Johnson, who added seven rebounds and a career-high 10 assists. "But first half, he looked like the best player in college basketball. We had no answers for him. We gave him one or two that were easy, but the rest, he made some tough shots."

Switching to a zone defense late in the first half, Baylor was able to at least slow him down and shut Johnson out over the last 12 ½ minutes. With 4:37 left, he missed a pair of free throws that would have made it a one-score game.

"I think in the beginning of the game, they were shooting so well, we had to do something differently to try to get them out of rhythm," Drew said. "It didn't stop them, but it slowed them down to where we could at least get it back into reasonable distance."

Ranked toward the bottom of the Big 12 in both 3-pointers made and shooting percentage, the Knights shot a sizzling 61.5% (8-of-13) from outside the arc in the first half and 14-of-27 for the game, and still only had a six-point lead to show for it.

Johnson opened the second half with another 3-pointer that stretched the lead to nine, but the Bears had a critical 14-2 run late in the game to take the lead for good. Love and freshman Ja'Kobe Walter both hit 3-pointers and RayJ Dennis capped off the run with a pair of free throws that made it 67-58 showing on the clock.

"We just knew there were 20 more minutes," Love said of facing the halftime deficit. "Twenty more minutes to give them our best, and that's what we did. We just made the tough plays, got the loose balls, got the rebounds. Then we ended up closing it out."

When Antwan Jones drained a second-chance 3-pointer to make it a four-point game, 68-64, Dennis made a tough driving layup in traffic and the Bears hit 7-of-8 free throws in the last 40 seconds to finally put this one away.

While Baylor made 20-of-25 from the line, the Knights only took one free throw in the first half and were 1-of-7 for the game.

UCF coach Johnny Dawkins, who was going for his 300^th career win, said the Knights can't afford to make mistakes in the closing minutes of the game. "You can't turn the ball over, you need to make your free throws and you need to get stops," he said. "We turned it over too much going down the stretch."

Jalen Bridges scored the Bears' first eight points of the game and finished with 12 points, six rebounds and five assists. Dennis and freshman Yves Missi scored 11 points apiece, while Walter bounced back from a scoreless first half to score eight points, hitting 5-of-6 free throws.

Johnson had a double-double with 23 points and 10 assists, knocking down 5-of-7 from outside the arc and 9-of-12 overall before fouling out late in the game. Marchellus Avery and Jaylin Sellers scored 16 and 14 points, respectively and combined to hit eight 3-pointers.

Continuing a tough stretch of the schedule, Baylor returns home to host 12^th-ranked Iowa State (16-4, 5-2) at 7 p.m. Saturday at Foster Pavilion in an ESPN2 broadcast. The Cyclones have won three in a row, highlighted by a 79-75 win over then-No. 7 Kansas.